PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland Contra Las Deportaciones (PDXCD), an immigrant rights organization, held a protest Saturday afternoon against President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to Portland. A federal judge has granted Oregon’s temporary restraining order on the National Guard deployment early Saturday evening.
People gathered around noon at Elizabeth Caruthers Park on South Moody Avenue. The group, which grew to several hundred people, then marched to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility on South Macadam Avenue.
Photos taken of the protesters show some of them holding signs and flowers, and others dressed up in costumes, including one person in a Handmaid’s Tale costume.
At one point, a KGW crew saw federal agents use several rounds of some kind of chemical crowd control munitions — such as tear gas, mace and pepper balls — sprayed on protesters outside the ICE facility.
Holly Brown, who helped organize Saturday’s protest and said that she’s been protesting at the facility over the past months, stepped over the blue line on the ground marking federal property. She, along with two other people, was seemingly detained by federal agents.
Moments later, agents deployed tear gas and mace. KGW also photographed a person who said that they were hit with a pepper ball.
Much of the crowd dispersed in the immediate aftermath. KGW did not witness any violence coming from the side of the protesters.
In a news release, organizers with PDXCD accused Trump of militarizing the city, and also noted the city of Portland issued a land use violation against the ICE facility.
“I think a lot of people are very scared. A lot of people are very nervous. Sending the military after your own citizens is an egregious act,” said Holly Brown. She said she’s also been protesting at the ICE facility over the past few months.
“The people protesting at ICE are completely peaceful,” Brown added. “They are people who are going out there to stand up for their immigrant neighbors, and they are being painted in some press outlets and by Donald Trump as agitators, as people who don’t belong here who are causing violence, and nothing could be further from the truth.”
FBI data released Thursday claims that they have made 128 arrests since June 9, but KGW has found that many taken into custody are not formally charged; those who have been charged are facing penalties, from trespassing to assaulting a federal officer.
This is a developing story; check back for updates.
트위터 공유: 연방 최루탄 사용... 시민 시위 위협